Gay blood drive aims to lift FDA ban

Tabetha Wittenmyer, 36, of Redlands gives blood on Friday in San Bernardino to support the National Gay Blood Drive and local organizers, family and friends. The city was one of 60 nationally to participate in the effort to shine light on an FDA ban on gay men giving blood.
rick sforza - staff photographer

Ryan Bailey helped organize the San Bernardino event for the National Gay Blood Drive at LifeStream offices in San Bernardino.
rick sforza - staff photographer

SAN BERNARDINO >> Four years ago, a ski lift accident left the young daughter of Redlands resident Terri Proctor in need of blood and her friend, Ryan Bailey, willing to donate.

But Bailey couldn’t and, under current Federal Drug Administration regulations, can never legally donate blood.

Or sperm, bone marrow, plasma, organs — “anything that comes out of the body we cannot participate in saving another life,” Bailey said.

The reason: Bailey has had sex with at least one other man since 1977, the year the FDA designates as the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S.

So, about a month ago he and Proctor decided to raise awareness by becoming local co-leads for the National Gay Blood Drive.

San Bernardino was one of 60 U.S. cities to participate in the second annual drive, founded last year in Los Angeles by filmmaker/activist Ryan James Yezak when he was unable to speak with the FDA about the ban for his documentary “Second Class Citizens.”

“The policy is outdated, and as a result, otherwise eligible gay and bisexual men are unable to contribute to the nation’s blood supply and help save lives,” said Yezak in a news release for the National Gay Blood Drive.

Bailey and Proctor organized the Inland Empire’s inaugural gay blood drive on Friday at San Bernardino-based LifeStream, the nonprofit blood bank for San Bernardino and Riverside counties that helped save the life of Proctor’s daughter.

The drive brings in allies who are eligible to donate blood in a gay or bisexual man’s place in an effort to show their willingness to contribute.

Bailey said Proctor donated blood in his place.

All LifeStream locations offered Friday’s blood donors the option of receiving a code to track their donations. This serves as a visual representation of the number of people who would be added to the national blood bank registry if the FDA reversed its ban.

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“It’s not meant to be a one-day statement, but an ongoing statement,” LifeStream spokesman Don Escalante said of the National Gay Blood Drive.

The drive’s also meant to educate and raise questions in search of answers.

If all donated blood is screened for several infectious diseases, including HIV, then why can’t gay and bisexual men donate, Bailey wondered.

To the FDA, gay and bisexual men are classified as “MSM” — men who have had sex with other men. Since 1983, the FDA has “deferred,” or banned, this population from donating blood because of an increased risk for transmitting infections like HIV.

In 2010, the FDA estimated that this population accounted for at least 61 percent of all new HIV infections in the U.S.

Some, like Yezak, believe the ban perpetuates inaccurate stereotypes about gay and bisexual men and focuses on sexual orientation instead of on sexual behavior and individual risk.

“They’re not being discriminated. They’re being deferred because of risky behavior. That’s all it is,” said Piper Close, vice president of marketing for LifeStream.

Some blood donor restrictions are also placed on those who are heterosexual “if they’re being honest on their questionnaire,” she added.

LifeStream, similar to most blood banks, performs a mini-physical on all potential blood donors, said Escalante.

The FDA maintains on its website that it’s willing to consider reversing the ban if scientific data can prove that a change won’t place blood recipients at an increased risk of transfusion transmitted diseases.

“We all want the same thing: We want hospital patients to have enough blood on hand. That’s kind of the bottom line on (Friday’s) event,” Escalante said.